A View of Character

2. A VIEW OF CHARACTER AND THE PERSONALITIES

2.1 A View of Character

Until the seventeenth century seventeenth century the world ‘novel’, meant a short of story of the kind written and collected by Boccacio in his Decameron. By about 1700 it had got something like its present meaning as written in the background of the study, Friedrichsen 1973:106 tell us, is “a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length in which characters and actions novel is an account of life; every novel involves conflict, characters, action, settings, plot and theme. An author has a full freedom present character suitable with what her work, whoever the person, the social status, the characterization and whatever their life problems in societies where they interact. The creativity of the author cannot be loose from the way they create the characters of a story. In a handbook, compiled by Harahap 2007: 23-24 wrote that character has several meanings, the most common of which is “the aggeregiate of traits and features that form the nature of person or animals”. Characters also refer to moral and ethical standards and principles. In literature, character has several other specific meanings, notably that of a person represented in a story, novel, play, etc. In seventeenth and eighteenth-century England, a character was a formal sketch or descriptive analysis of particular virtue or vice as represented in a person, what is a more often called a character sketch. In a literary work, character is made to complete a novel operation to the reader that has been planned by maker. Richard Eastman 1965:17 stated that, “Character is an apparatus, mechanism, a device planned by his maker to help power the complete operation of novel upon the reader.” A character occupies a strategic position to bring and convey message, moral, or something that is purposely conveyed to the reader. In a book Siregar 1997:53, Abrams 1985:21 says that characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say - the dialogue - and by what they do – the action. The grounds in character’s temperament and moral nature for his speech and action constitute his motivations. Scott 1980: 48 defined that character is short pros sketches of different types of people moulded to a pattern. From this definition we can catch an idea that characters are drawn from different types to a pattern. There are many definition of character that supporting this idea. Two of them come from Longman 1995: 215 and Webster 2000: 74, which say that “Character is the particular combination of qualities that makes someone a particular kind of person”, and “Character is the combination of qualities that distinguishes an individual person, group of things; moral strength; reputation; disposition.” The distinguishing quality called trait or characterization, is different from one character to another. Each of character has his or her own traits. Characters may be ambitious or lazy, serene or anxious, aggressive or tearful, thoughtful or inconsiderate, open or secretive, confident or self doubting, kind or cruel, quite or noisy, visionary or practical, careful or careless, impartial or biased, straightforward or underhanded,”winners”or”losers” and so on. Characters can be convincing whether they are presented by showing or by telling. Michael Meyer 2002: 121 states “Authors have two major methods of presenting characters; showing and telling. Showing allows the author to present a character talking and acting, and lets the reader infer what kind of person the character is. In telling, the authors intervenses to describe and sometimes evaluated the character for the reader”. On the other hand, Hawton 1985: 57 stated that there are three methods in presenting the character. 1. By description report In this method, the author described the character through himself or another character. 2. By the action or the character act. 3. By the character thoughts abd speaking. According to Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs 1995: 135, authors use five ways to present their characters, they are 1. Actions What character does is our best way to understand what they are. As with ordinary human beings, fictional characters do not necessarily understand how they may be changing or why they do the things they do. Nevertheless, their actions express their characters. Actions may also signal qualities such as nalvete’, weakness, deceit, a scheming personality, strong inner or conflicts,or a realization or growth of some sort. 2. Descriptions, both personal and environmental Appearance and environmental reveal much about a character’s social and economic status, of course, but they also tell us about character traits. 3. Dramatic statements and thoughts Although the speeches of most characters are functional – essential to keep the story moving along – they provide material from which you can draw conclusions. Often, characters used speech to hide their motives,though we as readers should see through their action narrated in the works. 4. Statements by other characters By studying what characters say about each other, you can enchance your understanding of the character being discussed. Ironically, the characters doing the talking often indicate something other than what they intend, perhaps because of prejudice, stupidity, or foolishness. 5. Statements by the author speaking as story – teller or obseverser What the author, speaking with the authorial voice, says about a character is usually accurate, and authorial voice can be accepted factually. However, when the authorial interprets actions and characteritics, the author himself or herself assumes the role of reader or critic, and any opinions may be questioned. For this reason, authors frequently avoid interpretations and devote their own conclusions From the three opinions, it can be concluded that there are three methods to present character: by the action, description, and statements or thoughts. In character, we also found the division of it. According to Burhan Nurgiyantoro in his book, Teori Pengkajian Fiksi 1998: 176 based on some criteria, the difference of point of view, and observations, character can be categorized as follows: Main character and Peripheral Character, Protagonist Character and Antagonist Character, Simple Character nd Complex Character, Static Character and Developing Character, Typical and Neutral Character. This paper discusses about the main character and the protagonist’ personalities. Therefore, it concerns with the definition of main character and peripheral character for clarification of technical terms used in the paper. A. Main Character Main Character is classified important and kept on performing that it feels dominating the whole story. The narration of this character is considered as the most important in a novel concern. He is the most narrated character, whether as the hero or the one who is affected by the action. Even in certain novels, a main character always presents in every event and can be found in every page of the novel concern. Though his superiority values are not always the same, main character in a novel can be more than one. B. Peripheral Character There are some characters that are presented only or a couple times in a story, and it may be in relative short narration. These characters are called peripheral character. The appearance of peripheral character in whole story less, not important, and he appears only if there is any connection with main character, directly to indirectly.

2.2 View of The Personalities